Chapter 28 #2
Darcy’s heart leapt; alas, they arrived at the house before any more could be said and became engaged in a flurry of removing from the carriage, with footmen hurrying about to take trunks, Mrs Hobbs appearing to enquire about supper, and Miss Lydia gawping and gasping about the grandeur of the house.
Darcy listened to it all with impatience, trying to comprehend how he might ask her what she meant by ‘nothing at all’.
Was it nothing at all that she had not heard of Elizabeth’s engagement?
Or was the engagement itself nothing at all? He was mad to know.
He was tempted to ask Fitzwilliam what he thought during the supper they took together in his library, but their fruitless discussion of what to do about Georgiana proved distressing enough on its own.
Proposals of a delayed coming out, an arranged marriage, a trip abroad, a stint at school, a stricter companion were all made more than once.
None of their suggestions were new, and none of them gave much hope of success.
They were thus engaged when Georgiana knocked gently at the door.
“It was good of you to send someone to get Miss Lydia’s trunk, Brother,” she said. “She is very grateful.”
“She will be far less grateful when she hears what I have to say to her father about her antics,” said Darcy sternly.
Mr Gardiner had written to warn his brother-in-law that Darcy was on his way, but the details of the girls’ misadventure had been left out, too injurious to commit to writing.
It would fall to him to inform Bennet of his youngest daughter’s brush with scandal.
Georgiana’s eyes filled immediately with tears. “I am so sorry to have disappointed you both…again.”
“What on earth were you thinking, Georgiana?” Fitzwilliam said. “You do realise how things might have been were you discovered? In a gaming hell, filled with military men? Gambling away untold sums of money?” He shook his head, and Darcy took up the admonition.
“It would be surely beyond either of our capabilities to keep such a thing quiet. The scandal would have been—”
“I know, truly I do.” Georgiana wiped at the tears on her cheeks. “I… It was just too enticing to have such a friend. I did not want her to think me…Countess Killjoy of House Ennui.”
Despite everything, Darcy barked a laugh. “Countess Killjoy? Is that what she said?”
Georgiana shook her head. “That is what Saye calls people who refuse to be part of the frolics. That and Sir Frederick Fun-Sucker.”
“If you find yourself following Saye’s advisements, you will always go astray.
” Darcy sighed heavily, disliking the similarity between that want of propriety for which he had always disdained Elizabeth’s sisters, and his own cousin’s recklessness.
“I confess we truly do not know what to do with you. Yes, we might lock you away at Pemberley, or some other rural place, but what good would it do? You are far too easily led, Georgiana, and I cannot like it.”
Never before had Darcy wished more for a wife.
Never before had he wished more for Elizabeth to be his wife.
And never before had he wished so dearly that he had never opened his mouth and uttered scorn towards her family.
Spirited young ladies were a challenge to any man, father, or brother, strict or indolent.
It is more like breaking a horse than I had realised.
At times all you can do is simply hang on and hope for the best.
“One thing is certain: that this will materially delay your coming out,” he warned. “I cannot foist you out into society with no assurance that you will not get yourself in trouble.”
She nodded her head. “I understand.”
“My father will tell us to find someone suitable and see you wed once he hears of this,” Fitzwilliam warned.
Seeing the panic in Georgiana’s expression, Darcy hastened to say, “But neither of us wish to do that. One ought not to be forced to relinquish the hope of true love because of a youthful indiscretion.”
“Thank you, Brother.” She sniffled a little, then gave him a sad smile. “I had never before known you to be a romantic.”
For what good it has done me.
He excused her and, shortly afterwards, bade Fitzwilliam goodnight, when he expressed his intention to retire to bed.
They had agreed between them that his cousin would remain there with Georgiana tomorrow, attempting to talk some sense into her one-on-one, while Darcy was away in Hertfordshire.
They had always had various degrees of success in dealing with her, both as a pair and individually.
Usually, Darcy’s more fatherly approach garnered the best results; occasionally, Fitzwilliam’s slightly more distant relationship was what she needed.
Least often of all—but, Darcy suspected, imperative in this situation—a little stern army talk proved just the ticket.
Either way, his cousin would stay this night and visit his fellow officers the next.
Alone at last, Darcy returned to his desk and rifled through the correspondence that awaited him.
He opened one or two letters, but his mind had no capacity for them and so he stopped and stared out of the window at the night while he slowly sipped the last of his drink.
He would again be in the carriage at first light, ferrying a wayward miss back home, and all he could think was how little he wanted to be at Longbourn when Elizabeth was not there; about the fact that she would never live there again, for she would soon be married to someone who was not him; and about their kiss, which he doubted he would ever learn how to forget.